Edward Snowden NSA leaks: France summons US ambassador over spy scandal
France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has summoned the US ambassador over Le Monde newspaper claims that the US spied on millions of phone calls in France.
France has labeled such activity between allies as “unacceptable”.
Le Monde says the data, based on leaks from ex-intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, suggest the US NSA monitored businesses and officials as well as terrorism suspects.
The intercepts were apparently triggered by certain key words.
Le Monde says the US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on 70.3 million phone calls in France in just 30 days between December 10, 2012, and January 8, 2013.
The NSA also apparently captured millions of text messages.
Leaks from ex-intelligence analyst Edward Snowden suggest the NSA monitored businesses and officials as well as terrorism suspects
It was unclear whether the content of the calls and messages was stored, or just the metadata – the details of who is speaking to whom.
Le Monde did not say whether the operation, codenamed US-985D, was still in progress.
Laurent Fabius announced that he had summoned the US ambassador to discuss the claims “immediately”.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls had earlier said the allegations were “shocking”, and added: “If an allied country spies on France, this is totally unacceptable.”
Le Monde reported in July that the French government ran a huge snooping operation on its own citizens, giving its intelligence agencies access to vast amounts of personal data.
The latest revelations follow claims in the German media that US agents hacked into the email account of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Edward Snowden, a former NSA employee, went public with revelations about US spying operations in June.
The information he leaked led to claims of systematic spying by the NSA and CIA on a global scale.
Targets included rivals like China and Russia, as well as allies like the EU and Brazil.
The NSA was also forced to admit it captured email and phone data from millions of Americans.
Edward Snowden is currently in Russia, where he was granted a year-long visa after making an asylum application.
The US wants Edward Snowden extradited to face trial on criminal charges.